Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

One of the most audacious and provocative writers on either side of the Atlantic now gives readers a dazzling, arousing, and wise improvisation on art, Eros, language, and identity. "A series of intense, artful musings that are exhilarating and visionary. . . . Unsettling yet strangely satisfying."--Newsday.

Review

"Winterson's autobiography Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit traces her interesting, idiosyncratic journey from a childhood spent with fundamentalist parents to the awakening of a secular self-concept as a lesbian, a self-concept which involved her in wrenching away from her parents' moralism. In her latest novel, Art and Lies, she seems to have reverted to the preaching done by her parents, only with art and sexuality taking the place of religion. Oddly enough, the novel contains fewer and less interesting stories than the autobiography, and is, if anything, less concerned with scene, character, dialogue, and voice, and more concerned with a kind of didacticism, even moralism. The book is marred by preciosity, and the kind of self-consciousness that should probably characterize autobiography, but it seems that in every book Winterson has become less and less interested in telling stories and more interested in presenting herself almost melodramatically as literary artist and sexual being." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)

Review

"As Winterson spins the intriguing, dramatic, and significant tales of each of her characters, she satisfies our craving for story but accomplishes so much more, articulating the meaning of time, art, passion, and hypocrisy in prose charged with the pulse and imagery of poetry." Donna Seaman, Booklist

Review

"A series of intense, artful musings that are exhilarating and visionary....Unsettling yet strangely satisfying." Newsday

Review

"Winterson writes beautifully....But even as she does so, she is quoting one of her favourite sources....This is how she works  by levitating on the ready-made inspiration, the breeze from the breaths of others. It's a risky business, and she falls off the high wire often." Lorna Sage, Literary Times Supplement

Review

"Art and Lies is less a novel than a recipe for the radical ideas of the controversial and outspoken author, but it's a recipe many of us would probably be wise to study." Dave Edelman, Critic's Choice

Review

"It's hard to write a book about Art without sounding pretentious and preachy and while Winterson is better than most she can still sound sententious and serious far too much of the time....A fair amount is oversimplified, but it still makes for a decent read." The Complete Review

Review

"Ms. Winterson's prolonged and steady infusions of poetry into her novel turn the medium gaseous." William H. Pritchard, The New York Times Book Review

Review

"[T]he one voice in which all the narrators speak eventually becomes dominant. It makes no pretence to being a fictional voice, it isn't very pleasant and it swiftly destroys the book's power." Mary Scott, New Statesman

About the Author

Jeanette Winterson's honors include the Whitbread Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.